Large Sleeping Beauty turquoise stone pendant

Large Navajo handcrafted pendant. It features a stunningly beautiful piece of Sleeping Beauty turquoise. Known for its pure light blue coloring, this pendant is a wonderful example. The Navajo artist has set the stone in a traditional double row mounting with saw cut details. These details as beautiful as they are, also allow the heavy silver wire to be wrapped around the stone. The stone is raised slightly in the mounting which gives it even more of a presence. This is a beautiful pendant. 

Materials: Sterling silver and Sleeping Beauty turquoise

Measurements: mounting is 1-7/8" in length with a width of 1-3/8"  / stone: 1-3/8" x 7/8"  / The bail will accommodate upto a 7mm bead of chain.

(all measurements are approximate)

Stone: The Sleeping Beauty Mine, located in Globe, Arizona, is no longer an active mine. For many years it produced a wide range of turquoise that is now even more highly prized for its solid soft blue color, with little or no matrix. The color of the turquoise ranges from a deep royal blue to a light sky blue. The mine originally was worked for copper and gold but during the last five decades or so it has produced gemstone quality turquoise in quantities to satisfy the commercial market. The mine has since closed but in the past, the miners lease portions of the “dumps” and sort turquoise from there.